Spain’s fight over Catalan language

Re “Fighting words in Spain,” Column One, Dec. 4

In writing about how the Catalan language “has become a tool of identity but also of exclusion,” The Times seems to miss the point that the choice to enforce a Spanish-only policy and to outlaw the teaching of Catalan in the region’s schools -- made long ago by the Spanish government in its attempts to expunge the language and culture of Catalonia -- was just as much a political and exclusionary decision as the present Catalan language policy.

The fact is, all language choices are political, whether those decisions are made by a national majority to eradicate a minority language from the public sphere (as in the case of English-only policies in the United States) or by a national minority/regional majority (as in the case of Catalan language policies in Spain) to maintain a cherished tongue.

WILLIAM MACINTYRE

Burbank

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In your list of the places in the world where Catalan is spoken, you omitted Andorra, a rather important omission considering that Andorra is the country with the largest percentage of its population that speaks Catalan. Its three official languages are Catalan, French and Spanish.

RICHARD HARRIS

Los Angeles

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Yes, Valencian is virtually indistinguishable from Catalan, but the “quixotic” campaign to have it recognized as a separate language has had some success.

The now-dormant European Constitution, ahead of the referendum held in Spain, was translated not only into Catalan but into Valencian. Another point: The Citizens Party, in fact, ranked last among the five parties to win seats in the recent Catalan regional parliamentary elections; but the main point, and I think The Times would agree, is that a group of young people organized this party just a few months before the elections and, with a shoestring budget, managed to win three seats. That was an almost unprecedented feat and showed clear discontent with the established parties.

WILLIAM MYERS

Madrid